Early Entries Pour in as NYIOOC Adds Even More Value to Winning

Summary

Producers are enter­ing their olive oil brands in the 2017 New York International Olive Oil Competition at a record rate, despite con­cerns about lower pro­duc­tion due to dry con­di­tions and fruit-fly dam­age in key regions like Spain and Italy. The com­pe­ti­tion, to be held in April, will fea­ture more Southern Hemisphere brands this year and will offer new ini­tia­tives to add value to win­ning, includ­ing a mobile app for buy­ers to val­i­date win­ning oils and a mes­sag­ing net­work to facil­i­tate whole­sale trade oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Even as the first olives from the new 2016/2017 har­vest are being crushed into oil, pro­duc­ers around the world are enter­ing their brands in the 2017 New York International Olive Oil Competition at the fastest rate in the five-year his­tory of the con­test.

The 2017 NYIOOC will be held April 24 – 27 — a few weeks later in the sea­son than past edi­tions, allow­ing more Southern Hemisphere brands to par­tic­i­pate, orga­niz­ers said.
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While there is con­cern about a lower over­all pro­duc­tion this year due to dry con­di­tions in Spain and wide­spread fruit-fly dam­age in Italy, many pro­duc­ers seem con­fi­dent that the oil they ulti­mately pro­duce will be good enough to con­tend on New York’s global stage.

More than 820 brands from 26 coun­tries were judged in the 2016 edi­tion of the world’s largest and most pres­ti­gious olive oil com­pe­ti­tion. The win­ners are pre­sented on the web­site bestoliveoils.org — the sec­ond most-vis­ited olive oil web­site in the world behind Olive Oil Times — and nearly 100 win­ning brands are avail­able for sale on the Best Olive Oils Marketplace directly from the importers and mer­chants who stock them.

Importers, dis­trib­u­tors, retail­ers and restau­rants use the Best Olive Oils index as a buy­ing guide to the world’s best olive oils. Winning pro­duc­ers have reported that their awards have opened doors with key cus­tomers and new mar­kets.

Curtis Cord, the NYIOOC pres­i­dent, said sev­eral ini­tia­tives will add even more value to win­ning in 2017, includ­ing the devel­op­ment of new ways for buy­ers to val­i­date an oil before pur­chas­ing. ​“We’re build­ing on the suc­cess of the Best Olive Oils Guide by adding a native app that will allow a buyer to scan any bot­tle with a phone to see if it is a win­ning oil,” he said. ​“Beyond that, we will present tast­ing notes, food pair­ing sug­ges­tions, infor­ma­tion about the olive cul­ti­vars used and the region where the oil was pro­duced, right there quickly and con­ve­niently on the mobile device where the buyer needs it.”

At the same time, Cord said, his team will soon be rolling out a mes­sag­ing net­work within the NYIOOC Producer Tools plat­form that will facil­i­tate exchanges between buy­ers and the win­ning pro­duc­ers to encour­age whole­sale trade oppor­tu­ni­ties. ​“We are com­mit­ted to mak­ing it as easy as pos­si­ble for dis­trib­u­tors and buy­ers to stock the best olive oils, and one of the ways we can do that is through mes­sag­ing. Buyers will be able to fil­ter win­ning brands by the award they achieved, stock loca­tion, and ex-works price ranges to ini­ti­ate con­tact with pro­duc­ers who match their cri­te­ria with one click.”

Development will also con­tinue on the inno­v­a­tive olive oil and food pair­ing app, which has been used by more than 150,000 peo­ple since it was intro­duced ear­lier this year to find the best olive oil to use for a cer­tain dish. In addi­tion to iden­ti­fy­ing the best oil to use for broiled cod, for exam­ple, the app will be expanded to include regional dishes such as Ribollita, a Tuscan stew, to pin­point an oil from the same region and main­tain the cul­tural integrity of the dish.

And finally, the var­i­ous solu­tions for pro­duc­ers, mer­chants and con­sumers will be more tightly woven into the inter­face of Olive Oil Times in a redesign to be launched next sum­mer. ​“Rather than rely­ing merely on ban­ner ad posi­tions to direct users to the com­po­nents avail­able on our broader plat­form, we are work­ing on inte­grat­ing them more flu­idly within a por­tal redesign to lever­age the world’s #1 olive oil web­site, and improve the expe­ri­ence for our read­ers who are seek­ing answers to their grow­ing con­cerns over olive oil qual­ity,” Cord said.

Olive oil pro­duc­ers and brand man­agers can reg­is­ter for the 2017 NYIOOC on the com­pe­ti­tion web­site.

• New York International Olive Oil Competition


• Best Olive Oils Guide


• NYIOOC Producer Tools


• Olive Oil and Food Pairing App